Outworlder
by Tayta Malikai
Summary: Nick Strywell is a normal teenager who likes parties, girls and video games. When he unwillingly finds himself in the world of Assassin's Creed 2, he's forced to deal with his circumstances the only way he knows how: with style.
1. Chapter 1

**Hey guys! I'm Tayta (though with a heap of other nicknames too), and I'm an aspiring writer who never writes anything. So to help me bolster my self-esteem, I've decided to write this fan fiction story! Hooray! *cue applause and laughter***

**I like reading other people's stories, and in particular those of the "girl falls into Assassin's Creed 2" genre. To that end, I decided to try writing a story of that genre, with the caveat of making the main character a sarcastic and narcissistic teenager, and seeing what resulted from that.**

**With that, I hope you'll like reading my story, and when you're done, drop me a review to tell me what you thought! ^_^**

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Nick Strywell smirked to himself, put down his controller and eased back into the couch. "Another mission completed…" he sighed to himself with satisfaction. "Now all I need are those stupid combat achievements."

Briefly, he wondered who had come up with the great idea of an achievement for ten kills in open combat without getting hit. Anyone who could do that achievement honourably would earn his deep respect; but as for him, he just wanted the damn achievement, so cheap smoke bomb tactic for the win. All he needed was a good spot…

Before he could make sure his smoke bombs were ready and start to engage the guards, Nick's gaming mood was interrupted by the distinct sounds of somebody entering the twelfth-storey apartment, and he groaned slightly to himself as the person called out "Hey Nick, I'm home!"

His sister. "Oh hey, Chris, welcome home," Nick called back to her, though not with any real enthusiasm.

Nick's sister's tone sharpened. "For the last time Nick, it's Chrisia, okay? Not Chris. Chris is a guy's name."

"Yeah, whatever you say, Chrissy," Nick pushed her with her old and just as disliked, if not worse, nickname, suddenly feeling bold and impetuous for no real reason.

His response had the effect he desired: Chrisia appeared in the doorway and flew at him, fists bunched and immature rage on her face, yelling "You're dead you little fucking twat!" Nick barely had time to exclaim "Oh shit!" and brace himself before she tackled him, sending them rolling to the floor.

They wrestled with each other for a couple of minutes, trying to get on top and pin the other to the floor, whilst trying to reach the other's vulnerable tickle points on their sides. Both of them grew tired within a few minutes, but Nick, with a sudden burst of strength, managed to push Chrisia off of him and pin her to the floor with his body.

As they both lay panting from the effort, Nick gave his sister his signature grin. "Looks like I won again, Chrisia."

"Yeah, you did. Take your prize," Chrisia added in a husky overtone, still pinned by him.

Nick laughed as he replied "I sometimes wish you meant that, Chrisia."

She gave him a glare. "Yeah, I'm sure you do, Nick you pervert."

"You don't really feel that way."

"Try me, pervert."

"Okay, you asked for it," Nick said, and did something that Chrisia didn't expect: he released his hold on her shoulders, and reached down and groped her breasts before she could react. He quickly jumped away before she could slap him, laughing at the shock on her face.

"I'll get you one day, Nick," she growled at him.

"You're such a tease, Chrisia," Nick replied, trying to suppress his laughter. "Anyways, I'm gonna get some food now. I'm starving." Still laughing, he turned around and walked into the kitchen.

Chrisia watched her brother go with a dumbfounded expression on her face. _What an asshole,_ she thought, _I'm going to get him one day._ She slowly got up from the floor of the apartment, tentatively feeling her breasts for soreness. Thankfully, there wasn't any.

"Oh, for fuck's sake!" Nick's shout echoed in the apartment. Chrisia thought that she should see what Nick was doing, even though she was still annoyed with him.

"What's up now, Nick?" she asked as she entered the kitchen and saw him with looking very annoyed.

"We don't have any food left in the kitchen. And Mom said we should have enough stocks for the whole week! Freaking hell!" Nick stormed back and forth for a few seconds, before sighing resignedly. "I guess that means I have to go out and get us some stuff."

Chrisia shrugged. "Sure you could, Nick. It's not too late, so some stores should still be open."

"Yeah," Nick said, considering. "I can just run down the street and get some stuff from the store around the corner. Easy. Yeah, I'll do that."

"Nice to see you doing something useful for once," Chrisia remarked as he went into his room.

"Hey! I have to do work as well, you know!" Nick retorted, enduring Chrisia's snickers outside his room as he searched in his wardrobe for some clothes more suitable for going out. He found himself satisfied with his choice of a black long-sleeved T-shirt and dark blue jeans, and walked out of his room, making sure he had his wallet in a back pocket. No point embarrassing himself to both the storekeeper and his sister by leaving his wallet at home.

"Alright, I'm going now, see you in ten!" Nick called towards the living room, where his sister was now availing herself to his Xbox.

"Okay then, see you!" Chrisia called back, and Nick moved to the door of the apartment. He was about to open it and leave when Chrisia said "Hey, just one thing Nick."

Nick turned around and started to say "What?" when Chrisia put an arm around his shoulder and, to his great surprise, gave him a tender kiss on his cheek. Nick didn't know whether to play along, so he just stood and let Chrisia finish. When she parted from him, he told her "That was nice."

"Good," she said, and promptly aimed a punch at his crotch. He saw it coming, and managed to twist his hips in time – a most useful skill to have in the corridor fights at his school – saving his crotch and letting Chrisia's fist impact on his left hip.

It still hurt like hell, though, and Nick staggered backwards, clutching his hip and nearly doubling over from the pain. "Augh…you…double crossing…bitch," he muttered as he recovered from the impact.

"You're welcome," his sister replied, and went back to the living room.

"Goddamn bitch," Nick muttered to himself, and left the apartment with murderous thoughts in his head. "She's in for it when I get back." As he walked down the stairs instead of taking the lift for some exercise, Nick wondered what he could do to his sister to get back at her. "I could just not share my food with her, but she can cook, and even if she couldn't, that's why they invented fast food. Fast and shit food but whatever."

He kept thinking about it as he reached the front door of the apartment building and went through it. As he started down the staircase outside which led to the street, he suddenly thought of a great idea. "Hey, I got it –!"

Before he could elaborate on his idea, Nick's foot and knee struck a trash can that was sticking out of an alcove on the staircase. He barely knew what had happened, except that he lost his balance and tumbled down the stairs to hit the sidewalk. The sudden pain that occurred was too much for him, and he blacked out.


	2. Chapter 2

**I'm glad to see that my little story has been reviewed positively. It makes me feel happy you spent time to read and comment on it. Thanks very much, Taavi224. (still desperately hoping for reviews lol)**

**Here's the second chapter, with Nick finding himself in a whole other world.**

**I don't own Assassin's Creed, and reviews are love. ^_^**

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He didn't know where he was, or why he was there. All he knew was that he was lying on something hard and cold, and that his body was aching everywhere.

Slowly, Nick forced his eyes open, unconsciously taking on a deep scowl as he tried to figure out what he was doing. He groaned as he realized he was lying on hard, cold pavement. _Oh crap…don't let me have passed out on the sidewalk again. I'd never live it down. And Mom would kill me, if Chris didn't kill me inside from humiliation first…_

He didn't feel very hungover, though, especially not if he was able to form a complex sentence like that, so he probably didn't pass out from partying. _So…what the fuck happened?_ He moved a hand to rub at the back of his head. _And why am I aching so much? This is like the time I –_ Then he remembered. _Oh yeah…I fell down the stairs and hit the sidewalk._

Great. He was going to have bruises the size of New Jersey. And Chris would laugh at him even more, no matter how he phrased what had happened. He'd just gone out to get groceries, for fuck's sake. And the fact he'd woken up on the hard pavement showed that Chris hadn't bothered to check what happened to him. She'd probably been playing on his Xbox the whole night.

That thought suddenly gave rise to another one. "Bitch better not have red-ringed my Xbox," Nick snarled under his breath, quickly forcing a leg underneath him to get him off the ground. When he was standing, he looked around properly for the first time.

What he saw made the heat in his blood disappear as fast as it had come.

The first thing he noticed was the complete lack of cars anywhere; and the street looked too narrow for them anyway. There was still a lot of the kind of noise that came from masses of people on their daily routines, but the people making that noise all had a weird fashion sense. Girls in whack dresses and guys wearing…robes and tights. Every single one of them. Where had he seen that style of dress before –?

"Oh…holy…fuck," Nick swore as he connected the dots.

He wasn't in metropolitan New York anymore.

He'd fallen into the world of the Italian Renaissance. The setting of Assassin's Creed 2.

Which meant he was stuck in a video game, and with no obvious way out.

"God fucking fuck!" Nick raged, both his fists bunching up involuntarily. "And all because I fell down a fucking flight of stairs! Why the fuck am I here! Why –"

Somebody coughed lightly next to Nick, and he spun around, his rant dying mid-sentence as he saw who was there. Two girls who looked about his age were standing a metre away, wearing yellow dresses and looking very amused.

_Oh, great._ Nick found himself at a loss for words, not knowing how he should act after he had no doubt vented heavily in front of these girls. Knowing that he would have to say something, he adopted a sheepish expression and tone as he started "Uhh…can I help you two pretty ladies with anything?"

It might have been a shit line, but they giggled all the same. _Girls are still girls,_ Nick thought in satisfaction as one of them said something to the other he couldn't hear. The other one nodded and they both faced him again.

"No, but you look like you could use some help," the girl who had been whispering replied. She had dark brown hair done up in a braid, and she was staring at Nick. Following her gaze, Nick looked down and saw that his T-shirt and jeans were a little crumpled, but still in good condition, and he wondered what the girl was looking at. Then he realized that a T-shirt and jeans were not exactly casual clothes in this century. No wonder they found him so interesting. That and his colourful choice of language.

"I guess you could say that," Nick said in reply, maintaining the sheepish appearance. "I'm a little…lost here."

"Oh? Lost?" the other girl questioned. She had blond hair that hung loosely down her backside, and a few rings on her fingers.

"Yeah. This might sound a little weird to you, but I just sort of ended up here and have no idea where I am." Nick smiled at the two girls. "Maybe you two pretty ladies could help me out?"

The blond giggled again and was about to say something, but the brunette stopped her with a hand on her arm, and they started to whisper unsubtly to each other again. Nick strained his hearing, trying to hear what they were saying.

"…_don't know about that…"_

"…_what harm could it do?"_

"…_kind of strange…his clothes and looks…"_

"…_looks? He's handsome! Come on…"_ Nick allowed himself a grin at that one, which he quickly dissolved.

"_Okay, fine…"_ The unsubtle whispering conversation seemed to come to an end, and both girls turned back towards him.

"Well," the blond began, "we were both going to the markets until we found you. If you would care to, ahem, join us, we could keep talking on the way." To finish her sentence, the blond gave Nick an amused smile.

Nick considered her offer for a few seconds, and decided he might as well accept. It wasn't as if he had anything else to do, after all.

And, of course, he would be spending the day with a pair of attractive young ladies. What could go wrong?


	3. Chapter 3

**Yay! More favourable reviews! Thanks so much, you guys! This chapter's most appreciated users: flyingcrispi, Trip3x, and Dw959.**

**In response to Dw959: I'm glad you like the story so far, and I do plan to update this frequently, because I'm quite enjoying writing it. At the moment I'm on holidays, so I don't have that much time during the day, but I will try! ^_^**

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"So, what are your names?" Nick asked the two girls as they walked along the street, deciding it was the best way into a conversation.

The brunette girl answered first. "I'm Paula, and this is –"

"Laurenna," the blond finished, "but you can call me Laura," she told Nick with a smile.

Nick couldn't help smiling as well. "That's a nice name," he said. "My name's Nick. Nick Strywell."

"Nick…Strywell?" Paula repeated. "What a strange name."

Nick raised an eyebrow.

"In a good way," Laura finished with a giggle.

"Uh-huh. I see," Nick said, not sure what to say next. Ask about what they were doing? What they'd been doing before? That line seemed a bit too personal at the moment.

"So, Nick," Laura suddenly began, "exactly what happened to you? For you to be where we found you, I mean."

Grateful that the blond who seemed to be so interested in him was making some effort to make conversation, Nick thought about how best to describe what had happened to him. "Well," he answered awkwardly, well aware of the random passers-by staring at him and the girls, "I was chilling by myself at home, doing stuff, and my sister came home –"

"Oh, you have a sister?" Paula interrupted, sounding surprised.

"Uh, yeah, I do. Why, don't you have one?" Nick replied, remembering that it was common for families in this century to have at least three or four kids.

"I have one, but she is much younger than me," Paula answered. "Laura has none, nor any brothers, so a lot of people call her –"

"Be quiet, you!" Laura stopped Paula, mock slapping her, before she could say what Nick guessed was "spoiled".

"I can certainly see why they'd say that," Nick put in, indicating the shiny rings on Laura's fingers with a look, and she noticed.

"Oh hush, Nick!" Laura giggled, and leant onto Nick in a way he couldn't think wasn't suggestive at all. The blond obviously really liked him…

Paula gave a heavy sigh. "If you're quite done, Laura. Please do go on, Nick."

Nick sighed as well as Laura stopped leaning on him, though whether it was from having his story interrupted or because Laura wasn't leaning on him anymore he couldn't decide. Probably the latter, knowing how his brain worked. "Right, where was I? Oh yeah, so my sister came home, and after we had a tussle – you can ask when I'm done," he warned when he saw the two girls looking surprised again, "– I decided to get something to eat. But we didn't have any food, so I told my sister I was going out –" he winced, remembering how much his hip hurt when Chrisia tried to forcefully sterilize him, "– and I went out to go get some food. But _somehow_, I fell down a flight of stairs and when I woke up I was here. Yeah. That's it."

Both Paula and Laura appeared to be considering his story, although they all kept walking at the same pace. Finally, Paula turned to him and said "You have a most…interesting story, Nick."

"I knew you wouldn't believe me," Nick sighed.

"No, I believe you," Laura assured him. "You don't look like you'd lie. It just sounds so unusual, that's all."

"You have no idea. No idea."

"I'm very sure I don't," Laura answered with that smile of hers.

At that smile, Nick decided now was the time to press further. "Laura," he said, leaning slightly towards her and looking her in the eye. "Why do you –"

"Hey, Laura, Nick," Paula interrupted them. "We're here."

Sighing and muttering "Cockblock" under his breath, Nick looked away from Laura to see the markets of Florence in all their glory. For a moment, he was actually impressed by the scene of bustling commerce. The markets consisted of a large town square filled with stalls and shopkeepers, with the larger shops being in the buildings around the edge of the square. For a moment, he was impressed.

Then his sarcasm reasserted itself. _Ugh. Shopping. So fucking fun._

"I always forget how busy it is during the day," Paula commented.

"Because at night, they're closed," Nick completed.

"…Well, of course."

"Wow! I can't believe there is so much to see and buy!" Laura gushed enthusiastically. Ignoring the looks that Nick and Paula were giving her, not to mention the other random passers-by, she continued, "And to think that I've never been here before now! I could spend the whole day here just looking at things!"

"Uh-huh. Right," Nick replied disparagingly.

"Are you not fond of shopping, Nick?" Paula asked him, looking amused.

"To tell you the truth, Paula…no, I don't really like shopping that much."

"Why not?"

"Because half of the stuff in stores is useless crap, and most of the other half is stuff I don't want."

"I see…"

"Does that mean you won't be shopping with us, Nick?" Laura asked, pulling a sad face.

Nick considered it, but he had already decided he was _not_ going to spend hours shopping, even with two girls who liked him. "What are you girls going to buy?" he asked anyway, even though it was pointless.

"Well, there's so much that I want to buy," Laura began gushing again. "I want to get some new dresses, and some ingredients to cook food with, and then I want to get my hair styled –"

"Okaay then," Nick cut her off. "I hope you girls won't mind if I just hang around by myself until you're done."

Paula shrugged. "If you want. See you later, Nick."

"Bye, Nick!" Laura said, smiling and giving Nick a wink before Paula started to tug her away.

Nick sighed as the two of them walked into the bustle of Florence's markets. If Paula hadn't been there as well, he was sure Laura would have gone a _lot_ further than that. Which, in a way, was what he wanted, but he wasn't in quite the right mood right now. He wasn't sure why, but it was very likely that magically being thrown into Assassin's Creed 2 had something to do with it. Just a hunch.

Remembering that he was in a video game sparked an idea. _Just because it feels real, doesn't mean the game mechanics aren't still in it…hmm, I wonder…_

Looking around, Nick spotted a small stack of crates next to a wall, and several wooden beams jutting out of the wall which led to a balcony. It didn't look too difficult, especially when compared to the other crazy stunts that Ezio ate for breakfast. _Except that this parkour and free-running crap in real life is just a bit harder than holding down the A button._

Aware that some of the citizens around him were _still_ staring – _come on, haven't you guys got other shit to do than stare at the guy with modern clothes?_ – Nick jogged up to the crates, and climbed on top of them. The first wooden beam was in front of him, and without stopping Nick reached the edge of the crate and jumped.

To his surprise, he actually managed to land on the beam. But his momentum was still carrying him forward, and even as he exclaimed "Holy shit, I hit it!" he fell forward off the beam and fell to the ground only a metre below, hitting shoulder first and rolling onto his back.

"Oww, goddammit, that fucking hurt," Nick growled, even though the pain was trivial compared to getting punched by Chris or the school G-stars. He stood up, rubbing his shoulder, and pointedly ignored the looks everybody was giving him as he walked back to the stack of crates. He paused for a moment to psyche himself. _Alright, come on asshole. This is easy shit. Just hold down the A button and fucking run forward._ With that, he climbed the crates and jumped forward.

His left foot touched the beam first, and he remembered to jump forward again and let his momentum carry him. Barely containing his excitement, Nick managed to hit the second beam, then the third, and the fourth. Making his final leap, Nick landed on the railing of the balcony, and tumbled forward to hit his knees on the balcony.

Even as his knees hurt Nick was elated at his first success in free-running. "I made it! I made it! Holy shit, man!" he laughed as he stood up. "Another couple of times, and I'll be as hardcore as Ezio at this shit!" Satisfied with his effort, Nick walked to the railing facing the market and swung his legs over it to sit down.

Nick sighed, relaxing himself as best as he could, and started thinking about his circumstances now he was relatively free of distractions. First and foremost: he was in a video game. So he had to apply video game logic. From his surroundings, and particularly the colour of the sky, he guessed correctly that he was in Florence. Florence was the starting area of the game, so right now he had to be at the beginning. And therefore…

"Oh God fucking fuck _fuck_!" Nick exclaimed, burying his head in the palms of his hands. "I have to go through the whole fucking game! _The whole fucking game! Why?_

"_What the fuck did I do to deserve this?"_

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**Nick sure likes using the word fuck. The conversations with Paula and Laurenna were also kinda awkward to write.**

**I was going to have more in this chapter, but it ended up going on and I decided to leave it here.**

**Remember, reviews are love! xD**


	4. Chapter 4

**Sorry about the long wait time for this chapter! A combination of lack of writing time, flaky internet and a brief drop in motivation led to this.**

**Most appreciated users:**

**Taavi224 – Thanks, I was pretty happy with the way it turned out in the end.**

**Mazzax – Nick made the assumption based on what had happened (accident/blacking out after playing AC2), and he reinforced it by seemingly being able to basic free-run without too much effort or failing. And yeah, having a guy as the protagonist definitely makes a difference. I didn't even have the idea for Nick starting by spending the day with the two girls until I'd already done the second chapter, haha.**

**For the sake of updating, I cut it again. Again, sorry about the long wait, and enjoy!**

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As soon as Nick began to recover from his little emotional outburst, he heard Laura calling "Nick? What are you doing up there?"

_Aw, crap. This is getting embarrassing._ Hesitating before he replied so that he could recover some of his composure, Nick answered "Nothing much, Laura! I'm just chilling up here, you know, enjoying the view?" Then, with a small surge of confidence, and before he could think about it, "I was wondering if you wanted to join me up here? You know…" Nick gave Laura his grin. "For a chat?"

Laura returned a coy smile. "I would be delighted, Nick. But how exactly do you intend me to join you?" she asked, gesturing pointedly at the balcony he was sitting on.

Nick looked at the balcony, how high it was from the ground, and then back at Laura. He shrugged. "Well, if you don't want to fall on your ass trying to jump on wooden beams, you can just jump up, and I'll pull you up."

Laura looked a bit doubtful, but nodded anyway. "Wait a second," Nick said, and leaned over the balcony close to the tipping point in order to catch her. "Okay, jump!"

She obliged, managing to jump up to a good height, and Nick stretched his hand out to catch hers. Catching and gripping it easily, he pulled her up to his level with a grunt. Thankfully for him, she was able to do the rest, pulling herself up onto the balcony's railing using both hands.

"How's the shopping going?" Nick asked Laura, as soon as she was settled next to him on the railing.

"Oh, really well," Laura replied. "Paula and I found some really nice dresses, and I happened to chance upon some great perfumes that were shipped from Venezia. Right now Paula is still trying some more dresses, and no doubt haggling over the price."

"That sounds pretty nice," Nick commented. "But, not that I don't have anything against paying less, but, uh…don't you girls have enough money anyway to buy stuff with?"

Laura gave him a look. "Come on, Nick, I'm not that spoiled –"

"Aha!" Nick grinned. "You just admitted that you're at least partially spoiled!"

"What? Oh, you –!" Seemingly trying to glare and giggle at the same time, Laura jabbed Nick in the ribs with her elbow.

"Oi. That hurt," Nick said in reproval, elbowing Laura back, which only seemed to make her giggle more.

"What? It can't hurt much more than 'falling on your ass trying to jump on wooden beams', as you put it," Laura got out between giggles.

"Eh? How'd you know about that?"

"Because," Laura explained, "I could hear you making the biggest fuss about it when I was trying dresses. So I decided to see what you were doing after the last dress, and here I found you."

"Right, I see." Nick shifted and turned around to face her, and glared into her eyes. "Don't fucking tell anyone."

"Okay, I won't," she said. "But I can't say anything for the people who are still looking at you."

Nick sighed without even looking. He seemed to be doing that a lot lately. "You'd still better not tell anyone."

"Don't worry, Nick, I won't tell." Unexpectedly, Laura reached over and took one of his hands, and he stiffened involuntarily for a moment. "I promise."

He let out a low chuckle, and let his own fingers wrap around Laura's. "Promise accepted."

Laura laughed. "You are strange, Nick. Strange and funny."

"Thanks, Laura. I knew that." Nick looked away from her, but at the same time he could feel her shifting closer to him. Much closer.

"That's what I like most about you," Laura whispered softly into his ear.

"Huh." Nick put his other arm around her shoulders. "Then what do you like least?"

"That's a hard one. Let me think…oh, I know."

"What is it?"

"I think it would have to be…" Laura put her other arm around Nick. "…that you took this long to appear in my life," she finished in a breathy whisper.

"I never thought I'd hear that line from a girl," Nick remarked automatically, in an attempt to cover up the irritating fluttering feeling in his stomach region. He turned his head again to look at her. "You do realize we're in public in broad daylight, with a good amount of that public _still_ staring at us like they haven't got anything better to do?"

"Does that matter?"

"It sort of does to me."

"Only sort of?" Laura moved her face closer to his. "That's good enough for me."

Nick grinned, and moved his face closer to hers. "Me too."

Before they could get the chance to kiss each other, an angry man's voice yelled out behind them "Hey, what are you two lovebirds doing on my balcony? You'd better get down now!"

"Calm your fucking farm!" Nick retorted, turning away from Laura to see a man who looked moderately wealthy holding a long wooden cane of some sort. Nick thought he could probably take the guy on easily, as a stick wasn't very dangerous compared to a knife or even just bare fists, and he was prepared to do just that to the guy for being that kind of dickhead who interrupted passionate moments.

But after a second of clenching his fists, he changed his mind, mostly because if he did try to take the guy he would probably call the cops, and dealing with them would be much harder than taking on one guy with a stick. And he didn't think Laura would be too impressed with him either for bashing up random guys, even if they interrupted passionate moments.

So he relented, this time at least. "Come on, Laura," he said, holding his hand out to her, which she took. "Let's go and find Paula." She nodded her agreement, and they both jumped down to the ground, while the angry guy continued to shout random stuff at them.

"What a dickhead," Nick muttered as soon as they landed on the ground, out of earshot of the angry guy,.

Laura, who had let go of his hand, looked at him oddly. "Dickhead? What does that mean?"

"Uh, yeah." Nick thought about how best to explain it. "You know, someone with their dick on their head?" he tried explaining, arranging his fingers in a somewhat resemblant shape on top of his head. "And they're usually really annoying when it comes to stuff, like that guy."

"Oh, I see," Laura said, with a short giggle. "Still, though, he can't be blamed; it _was_ his balcony."

"I know," Nick replied, while he leaned down to smoothen out his T-shirt and jeans. "That's why I didn't bash him. Even I have standards, you know."

"Yes, so I see," she remarked, then pointed at somewhere in front of them. "There's Paula, over there! Come on, Nick." She skipped off ahead, but Nick didn't feel like keeping pace with her, so he just kept walking to where she was going, knowing that she wouldn't be going very far.

Sure enough, she stopped just outside one of the market stalls ahead, and Nick could see her talking to Paula as he caught up to her. "Hey, Paula," Nick greeted her with his grin. "How's the shopping?"

"Going very well, Nick," Paula answered, smiling. "I was able to find most of the other things we wanted to buy while Laura went off to find you. I don't think we'll be able to fit any more, though, unless we want to make another trip, and I don't really want to."

"Me neither," Laura agreed. "It's starting to get late in the afternoon, and I still have to get my hair styled. I think I will do that now, in fact."

"Bye, Laura!" Nick and Paula both farewelled her as she walked over to a hairdresser's shop on the outer edge of the markets.

"Does she do that often?" Nick muttered almost conspiratorially as soon as Laura was out of sight.

"Yes, she does, unfortunately," Paula replied amusedly. "At least every other week."

"Man, I know what you mean. Girls do that too, where I'm from. Except their idea of 'every so often' is something more like 'whenever I have one freaking strand of hair out of place'. That's another reason why I don't like shopping, actually."

"It seems we are both familiar with the feeling," the brunette remarked. "Anyway, Nick…I think Laura has found you just in time to be useful."

"Why?" Nick asked automatically, before he caught Paula's glance and followed it to the large and very heavy-looking crate filled with random items just behind her. His face immediately turned to dismay, and Paula laughed.

Under his breath, Nick grumbled "I hate being a fucking donkey."

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**derp romance~ =D**


	5. Chapter 5

**Finally! This took me ages to write, no thanks to writer's block and school having started again. I also got caught into the trap where you plan up to a certain point, write up to that point and then get stuck with what to do next, so I spent a few days just trying to think of what I was planning to do next with the story. Sorry to all of my loyal readers who waited so long for this next instalment. (If it's any consolation, it's something like twice the length of my previous chapters.)**

**Man it's like impossible to find my story what with so many updates. =P**

**Most appreciated users:**

**Taavi224 – Thanks, and just so you know, "oi" is an expression of mild admonishment (like when someone hits you lightly, as you saw here), or used to get somebody else's attention. And I'm from the glorious land of Australiana, and I don't live in the outback and hunt kangaroos and dingoes.**

**person watching you – Thank you too, and yeah, I haven't noticed any other stories with male protagonists. Girls get somewhat predictable after a while (although Lionpawheart's story is a pretty good one, though I haven't gotten around to finishing reading it). **

**Mazzax – I know, right? No really, I think we all hate carrying heavy boxes around. And that wasn't a bad idea at all =P**

**Enjoy, guys, and do please review! =D**

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If there was one thing that Nick absolutely hated about hanging around with girls, this was it.

Having to carry their shit around. All the time.

"Fucking hell, Paula," he swore, his arms beginning to tire from the enormous effort – even for him – of carrying the large and heavy crate filled with the two girls' shopping, "how much stuff did you two girls fucking _buy_? And where the hell are we going anyway?"

"We didn't buy all that much," Paula replied, walking in front of him to lead him to where they were going. "Mostly new clothes, things to cook food with, and some decorative trinkets which Laura picked out. It's not much more than what we would normally buy."

"Decorative…_trinkets_?" Nick huffed out. "That's like vases and shit! No wonder the box weighs so fucking much." He shifted his hold slightly to avoid the crate slipping out of his arms. "As soon as I put the box down," he growled, "I'm going to slap you for making me carry the stupid thing, and then I'm gonna find Laura and give her a slap too, for putting all this crap into the box."

"Oh, stop complaining, Nick," Paula admonished him, albeit looking rather sheepish. "I'm getting embarrassed."

"You should be. It's all your fault, and if we didn't like each other so much, I'd drop the box right now and run."

"Oh, my," Paula giggled, "are you now admitting that you like me?"

"Yeah, of course," Nick answered shortly, now starting to strain under the weight of the crate. "Why is that –" He forced himself to suck in another breath and keep his hold on the crate. "– so surprising?"

"It isn't that surprising to me, personally." Paula seemingly suddenly found something quite interesting about her nails. "It's just that you are very blunt about it, compared to other young men of Firenze who have tried to win me in the past."

"Well, as you can see –" Another readjustment of the crate. "– I'm not exactly your average Florentine fifteenth century guy."

"I was actually meaning to ask you –" Paula began, but Nick didn't hear what she said after that because something with a lot of force smashed into his shoulder from behind. He instantly dropped the box – which, thankfully, didn't land on his foot and crush it – and stumbled forward for a second.

He recovered just in time to see a figure dressed in white robes and a black cape running away from him. The obvious person responsible for making him drop the box, Nick raised a fist and shouted "Hey, wanker! Get back here!", to no effect. About to start chasing after the fleeing person, Nick suddenly realized who it probably was. There weren't a lot of people in the fifteenth century who wore white robes and ran around terrorizing the citizens. "Ezio, you wanker! Come back here!" he shouted, and this time the figure wearing white robes slowed down for a brief second to glance back over his shoulder in confusion. Definitely Ezio.

Before Nick could say anything further to him, Ezio resumed his running speed and ran left at the intersection just ahead. Not two seconds later, a group of four cops ran past him and Paula, all with their swords out, only to stop at the intersection and look around.

"Where did the assassin go?" one of them shouted angrily.

"He must have gone this way!" another one yelled, raising his sword and running to the right of the intersection, and the other cops followed him without hesitating.

Nick couldn't help but laugh at the stupidity. "_Fail!_" he proclaimed loudly, doing all he could to not fall over from laughing so much.

"What on earth was all that about?" Paula questioned, looking very confused.

"Oh man, that was so funny!" Nick got out, trying to stifle his uncontrolled laughter. "Ezio was getting chased by the cops, he went left and they went right! How fucking stupid are they!"

Paula gave him a pained look. "You are really embarrassing me now, Nick."

"I know, I know," Nick said, recovering from his fit of laughter. "Yeah, somehow laughing your ass off in the street makes you look like an idiot. No idea why," he added with a heavy coating of sarcasm. "That was still funny, though."

"Are you done yet, Nick?" Paula asked, somehow managing to look bored and amused at the same time.

"Yeah, I'm done laughing about cops being stupid," Nick said happily.

"Shall we get going then?" she prompted him, and abruptly he remembered that Paula was making him carry the box of her and Laura's shopping.

"No thanks," Nick replied shortly, and walked over to the nearest wall to lean back against it. When he looked up at Paula again, he had to suppress his fits of laughter again when he saw her expression. "What? I'm already tired of carrying the stupid box. You can carry it for a bit."

"What? But it's so heavy!" Paula protested weakly, making Nick sigh. This was yet another reason he didn't like shopping. Especially with girls.

"Well, think about how I feel!" Nick retorted. "It's not my problem you girls stuffed it with so much random crap that you can't carry it!" He folded his arms in an indignant pose, and glared at her while he stretched his arms behind his back. "If you went to the gym as often as I do, this wouldn't be such a problem."

"'Gym'? That is something you have to explain to me."

"Oh yeah, that's right, you don't have gyms. It's basically a place where you can do exercise and get strong without having to be a…I dunno, construction worker or something like that."

"That sounds like quite a useful place," Paula said, nodding. "But as you can see, I haven't been to one of those."

"Well then, you're stuffed," Nick replied. When he saw Paula start to say something else, he decided to relent somewhat. "Okay, how about a compromise? You can hold one end of the box, and I'll hold the other end, and that way we share the work equally. How does that sound?"

Paula shrugged. "Fine, I guess we can give it a try."

"Great," Nick said, and got up off the wall to walk over to the crate, as did Paula. They both leaned down over their side of the crate, putting their hands underneath it.

"You got it?" he asked.

"Uh-huh," Paula affirmed.

"Alright, let's go!" With a large effort, though not as much as the first time, Nick managed to lift his side of the crate. Even though he expected it, he was still surprised that Paula was able to lift her side as well. "Congratulations! You lifted the crate!" he said, only somewhat mockingly.

"Ungh," Paula grunted in response, straining to keep the crate lifted. "This is so heavy; I take everything back. Come on, let's hurry. This way."

"Where are we going anyway?" Nick asked her, as the two of them started to trudge down the street carrying the crate.

"My home," Paula answered. "It's down the next street, to the left."

"At least it's not that much further."

"Indeed that is fortunate." As the two of them slowly carried the crate around the corner, Paula huffed out, "Do you see the large house just before the end of the street?"

Although Nick was concentrating on keeping his grip on the crate, he looked down the street that Ezio had run through earlier, and he thought he could see something like what Paula was talking about. "You mean the one with a flag hanging over the front door and two guys hanging around next to it?"

"Yes, that's the one– wait a second." Paula stopped, nearly making Nick drop the crate. "What are those two doing there?"

"What, you know them?" he asked, pulling at his end of the crate to prompt Paula to move.

"I think I might, yes."

"Great. Let's just get this box to your place, and then we'll see what they're doing there."

"Good idea."

Having gotten much closer to Paula's house during the exchange, Nick was able to see the two guys hanging around near the front door more clearly. Like Paula and Laura, they both looked to be about his age. Both of them were wearing an outfit of shirts, brown tights and some light boots, though one had a green shirt and the other one a white shirt.

The two of them had turned to watch Nick and Paula as they carried the crate of shopping. They were both somewhat obviously more focused on Nick, who pointedly ignored them as he walked in front of them. He nodded to Paula, and they both dropped the crate at the same time.

_Man, it's so much better when girls help to carry their shit_, Nick remarked to himself, brushing his hands on his clothes before he turned to face the two guys. Both of them looked tough and they had some confidence. Definitely G-stars, or the fifteenth-century Florence equivalent of them.

"What are you two doing here?" Paula demanded of them. "I told you before not to come around here."

"We wanted to surprise you," the guy wearing the green shirt said.

"We wondered where you were the whole day, Paula," the one with the white shirt added.

"What I do during the day is not your business," Paula replied brusquely. "Now, leave."

"And what do you intend to do to us if we don't?" white shirt guy said, with the hints of an attempt at an evil smirk on his face.

"Uh– well I could– uhh –" Paula stuttered, which only made the white shirt guy laugh.

"And who is this, Paula?" green shirt guy said, moving to stand in front of Nick. He was obviously trying to intimidate him, but Nick was hardened by years of high school with classes made of half G-stars and half normal people. As a result, he was able to meet the guy's gaze without flinching. "Someone who you just met?"

"Yeah, you can say that," Nick answered, putting his hands firmly onto his hips.

"So you've only known him for, what, a day or two?" white shirt guy demanded. "We've know each other for months now, and you never let me go out shopping with you!"

"Maybe it's just because I'm better than you?" Nick suggested with great sarcasm.

"And why do you think that?" white shirt guy said.

"Because," Nick gestured towards white shirt guy's crotch, "I don't wear tights like a fag."

The look of confused outrage on his face was priceless. "What? What did you call me?"

"You heard me."

"I think he is making fun of me, Bruccio!" he exclaimed, sounding rather comically whiny to Nick.

"I think so too, Siovanni!" green shirt guy agreed, and clenched one of his hands into a fist, cupping it with his other hand. "I think we should teach him a lesson."

"Yes!" white shirt guy said, moving away from Paula to stand next to his friend in front of Nick, and taking on the same stance. _Pissy amateur tough kids_, Nick thought as he tensed up for the conflict.

"What are you– Don't –" Paula started, but Nick waved a hand in her direction. "Don't worry, Paula," he assured her, "these fags don't have shit on me."

"Insulting us again, are you?" Siovanni said, trying to sound threatening. "I bet you won't be like that when we send you back to your mother crying."

Nick raised his fists to guard his face, and gave the try-hard G-star a grin. "At least I _have_ a mom." He braced himself for what was coming next.

Sure enough, Siovanni took the bait. "Bastard!" he screamed, lunging forward and swinging a punch at Nick's head. Nick simply sidestepped to the left, and when Siovanni's fist reached where his head had just been and the rest of his body had moved accordingly, Nick kicked him right across the crotch. Siovanni was far too slow to block or dodge the kick, so all of the pain went into his crotch. As he started to cry out from the pain, Nick gave him a fast punch in the temple, and he went down.

Bruccio's punch hit Nick just under the shoulder, and he twisted around in time to see him attempt to follow it up by stepping forward to grab Nick around the throat. A good idea, and something Nick had done before in his many corridor brawls, except that it tended to work better when the other guy was immobilized for whatever reason. As it was, the impact of Bruccio's punch was only a dull pain, and Nick was still able to reach out and grab both of the G-star's wrists. Bruccio realized what was happening and strained to free his hands, but Nick had them both held firmly and his greater strength allowed him to cross Bruccio's hands over into an awkward position.

Then Nick kicked him in the crotch as well. Without waiting for the cry of pain, he released one of Bruccio's wrists, drew his left fist back, and gave him one straight in the forehead. Effectively crippled from both of the highly damaging attacks, Bruccio doubled over from the pain in the way that Nick wanted. Letting go of the other wrist, Nick took a step back and, taking a breath, jumped and swung his foot into Bruccio's chest. It hit him in the sternum, and that was that.

Even though the fight had been easy compared to some of his corridor brawls, Nick couldn't help the relieved sigh that he made. "_Fatality_," he intoned in the voice from Mortal Kombat, and gave a chuckle as he bent over two G-stars' unconscious bodies and performed an obligatory pocket check. He quickly found a bulging pouch of change in Bruccio's pockets; Siovanni, on the other hand, only had a much smaller pouch on his belt and some loose change in his pockets. Nick wondered briefly why Bruccio had so much more money as he stuffed it all in his pockets, and decided it was either being a rich kid or protection money. It didn't matter, it was in his pockets now.

Nick patted his pockets, and turned around to see Paula looking absolutely dumbstruck with awe. "Hey, Paula, you all right?" he said, waving a hand.

"Yes, Nick, I'm fine," Paula answered breathlessly. "I– that was incredible, Nick."

"Thanks, cutie. Don't mention it," Nick grinned smugly.

Paula blushed hard. "Wh– What did you call me?"

"You heard me," Nick replied, echoing the exchange he just had with the two G-stars.

"Oh, that's it Nick!" Paula giggled, lunging forward and jabbing her hands into his sides.

"Aw fuck, no, not my tickle spots!" Nick laughed, only half-heartedly trying to push her away. "Stop it!"

Paula just kept giggling and tickling him. "I will if you tell me you like me."

"Wait, whaa?" was all Nick could say, making him stop still. This was starting to become dangerous territory, because he didn't want to get accused of playing both Paula and Laura or have to choose between them. Not to mention, being cool enough to get a girlfriend in the fifteenth century wasn't going to help him to win the game.

So for now, he decided to take the currently safer option. "Yes, okay, Paula," Nick said, trying to keep down the laughs from Paula's tickling. "I like you."

"Yes!" Paula exclaimed, immediately stopping her tickling to wrap Nick in a huge hug. "Thank you so much, Nick!"

"Uh, no problem," Nick replied sheepishly, shifting around in Paula's embrace. _Great_, he thought. _I managed to make them both like me. Now I'm gonna have them fighting to win my affections. Nice one._

A deviant thought flashed in his head as if to reassure him. _Well, you know what they say. Two is better than one._


End file.
